WASHINGTON - Late Wednesday, Inside Climate News revealed that the U.S. Department of Justice has referred to the FBI’s criminal division a request by two congressmen for a federal probe into ExxonMobil’s funding of climate denial.

RL Miller, cofounder of Climate Hawks Vote, said: “Thanks to Rep. Ted Lieu and his determination, the FBI is finally going to see all the evidence - how Exxon publicly distorted science, funded deniers to further manipulate public opinion, and set back political will decades. Climate Hawks Vote expects that the FBI will conduct a detailed and thorough investigation.”

Center for International Environmental Law President Carroll Muffett states: “The formal referral by the Department of Justice means that the FBI must now take real steps to evaluate the serious allegations against ExxonMobil. The Bureau will do so amidst a growing body of evidence that Exxon was well aware of the threats of climate change, even as it publicly distorted these threats by funding misinformation campaigns. The timing of this revelation is particularly significant for Exxon, which just brought to market its biggest bond sale on record --$12 billion-- in the midst of an ongoing crash in global oil prices. Exxon already faces a potential downgrade from ratings agency Standard & Poor’s. The referral demonstrates for both the public and investors that the legal risks facing Exxon and other fossil fuel producers are real, they are significant, and they are now imminent. The bad news for Exxon is that the disclosures to date are only the tip of what is almost certainly a very large iceberg of documentary evidence.”

“ExxonMobil's climate deceit, built on decades of knowingly false statements to federal and state officials and the public, was no garden-variety consumer fraud,” said Brad Campbell, president of the Conservation Law Foundation. “It cries out for FBI scrutiny because it has put lives and property at risk on a scale equal to the corporation's global reach.”

“This is turning into a nightmare for Exxon. No company wants to hear their name and ‘criminal’ in the same sentence. This FBI investigation must quickly lead back to a full Department of Justice inquiry and, ultimately, legal action. There’s too much public pressure and action by state Attorney Generals for this case to disappear into a bureaucratic black hole. Exxon knew about climate change, they misled the public, and it’s time for them to be held to criminal account,” said 350.org Communications Director Jamie Henn.

“Exxon has already cost us decades of meaningful climate action and policy thanks to its colossal climate denial operation. This development is a step in the right direction to holding it legally accountable,” said Naomi Ages, Greenpeace US climate liability campaigner. “We expect the FBI and the Department of Justice to give this investigation the attention demanded by the American public.”

“ExxonMobil has built its profits by destroying our planet. With the latest science telling us that the world needs to keep more than 80 percent of its fossil fuels in the ground it is clear that this business model must end. What’s also becoming clear is that ExxonMobil has known this for decades and they lied to the American people about climate change in order to protect their ill-gotten gains. We welcome the FBI’s criminal investigation into ExxonMobil’s misconduct,” said Ben Schreiber, Climate and Energy Program Director of Friends of the Earth-US.

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Since 1989, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) has worked to strengthen and use international law and institutions to protect the environment, promote human health, and ensure a just and sustainable society.

Further

Chanting "Kill the Bill, Not Us," over a hundred activists, many in wheelchairs, halted the only hearing on the Graham-Cassidy anti-health-care bill and were met with a response only the current cretins in power could conjure up: They were removed and arrested by police, Chairman Orrin Hatch told them to "shut up," and Bill Cassidy literally yawned through the turmoil. Democrat Ron Wyden called the spectacle "an abomination,” which aptly sums up the state of the Republic.